The present invention relates to a method and to a device allowing fast prediction of the flocculation threshold of asphaltenes from the measurement of their optical refraction index.
The method finds applications notably in the production or the transport of petroleum products for predicting the flocculation of asphaltenes and for fighting it by means of various processes.
During extraction or transport, crudes are subjected to temperature, pressure, shear variations, and to operations modifying the composition thereof. These modifications can lead to the flocculation of heavy constituents of crude oils such as asphaltenes. As this precipitate does not redissolve spontaneously, it can eventually, as it accumulates, clog lines, part of the porous matrix of the formation or a catalyst grain. The deposits resulting from the precipitation of asphaltenes are the main causes of servicing operations during processing of the petroleum chain It is therefore necessary to be able to predict in time the flocculation of asphaltenes in order to prevent or to fight it.
Measurement of the flocculation threshold consists in adding progressively to an asphaltene solution a flocculant that can be, according to standards, pentane, heptane, etc. The following methods can be distinguished:
a) a test referred to as spot test: the flocculated asphaltenes do not diffuse as quickly as the surrounding liquid when the mixture is deposited on a filter paper. A uniform spot corresponds to an absence of flocculated asphaltenes, whereas a black area in the middle of the spot corresponds to a flocculation;
b) an optical method by light diffusion in the near infrared allowing continuous and in-situ monitoring of the appearance of the threshold, as described for example in patent FR-2,647,903 filed by the applicant. This threshold is defined as the minimum amount of flocculant to be added to the solution for the formation of the first asphaltene aggregates to be observed.
Other techniques have been developed since then: light diffusion (UV and visible), particles size, gravimetric analysis, optical fluorescence, viscosity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity analysis. They are all based on the same principle: the addition of flocculant leads to two effects: dilution of the sample and increase in the size of the aggregates. Below this threshold, the dilution effect prevails. Crossing the threshold leads to a great increase in the size of the aggregates and this effect prevails over dilution.
A possible method of determining the flocculation threshold consists in preparing at the time 0 different solutions of asphaltenes in toluene to which various heptane concentrations are added for example. Immediately afterwards (at t0+1 mn for example), its refraction index is measured by means of a refractometer of a well-known type. The Abbe refractometer is for example used, whose principle essentially consists in measuring the critical angle of total refraction of a light beam falling on a diopter consisting of a sapphire prism, of high index (1.7), and of the sample to be measured. The diopter thus obtained is  less than  less than lit greater than  greater than  by a light source having an angular distribution that allows to reach all of the incidences corresponding to the limits of the measurement range accessible by the device. Then, after a predetermined time interval (t0+5 mn for example, according to the experimental protocol selected), the various solutions are examined under the microscope to see if the asphaltenes flocculate (see FIG. 1). It is well-known that the polarizability of a mixture of constituents, under certain hypotheses, is the sum of the contributions of each one of the fractions that constitute this mixture. If the mixture volumes are ideal (without excess volume), if there is no chemical reaction when the constituents are mixed and if the disturbances of the individual oscillators, linked with the presence of neighbours of different chemical nature are not too great, the number of atoms of each constituent per total volume unit being denoted by Nj, we can write the Clausius-Mosotti                               3          ⁢                                                    n                2                            -              1                                                      n                2                            +              2                                      =                              ∑            j                    ⁢                                    N              j                        ⁢                          α              j                                                          (        1        )            
equation:
where xcex1j is the polarizability of constituent j.
We therefore draw (FIG. 2) the variation curve of function       (                  n        s            =                                    n            2                    -          1                                      n            2                    +          2                      )    ,
of refraction index n as a function, on the abscissa, of the volume fraction of the titrant of the mixture (1xe2x88x92"PHgr") ("PHgr" heptane volume fraction of the various solutions) and the first point for which a flocculation onset is observed is located on the curve obtained. The value of the refraction index at this point represents the refraction index nSF at the flocculation threshold. The lower volume fraction "PHgr", the more the asphaltene will tend to flocculate. The asphaltene flocculation risk therefore varies in inverse proportion to "PHgr".
In order to be accurate, this known method requires comparative examination of a great number of solutions with different heptane titers, and consequently a longer experimentation time.
On the other hand, Wang J. et al describe, in:  less than  less than Improved Modeling of the Onset of Asphaltene Flocculation  greater than  greater than , 2nd International Conference on Petroleum and Gas Phase Behavior and Fouling, Copenhagen, August 2000, a modelling method wherein asphaltene solutions are considered as a binary mixture of a solvent (maltenes) and of a solute (asphaltenes), and a Flory-Huggins type model, well-known to specialists, is used to predict their flocculation. The free enthalpy of mixing xcex94Gm is given by the relation as follows:
xcex94Gm=xcex94Hmxe2x88x92Txcex94Smxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
The entropy term is the Flory-Huggins terms involving the molar fractions (x) and the volume fractions (xcfx86):
xcex94Sm=xe2x88x92R(x1 lnxcfx861+x2lnxcfx862)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
On the other hand, the enthalpy term involves the solubility parameters of the solvent and of the solute through interaction parameter "khgr":
xcex94Hm=RTx1xcfx862"khgr"xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(4)
                    χ        =                                            v              1                                      R              ⁢                              xe2x80x83                            ⁢              T                                ⁢                                    (                                                δ                  2                                -                                  δ                  1                                            )                        2                                              (        5        )            
In these expressions, subscripts 1 and 2 correspond to the solvant and to the solute respectively. Interaction parameter "khgr" involves Hildebrand""s solubility parameters xcex4. Now, these parameters are defined from the cohesive-energy densities. xcex41 and xcex42 are therefore measurements of the cohesive energies of the solvent and of the asphaltene aggregates respectively. The expression of the free enthalpy of mixing allows to determine the chemical potentials of the two species (solvent and solute). The flocculation of asphaltenes is then dealt with conventionally like a phase separation.
When modelling an addition of flocculant nC7 for example, the parameters relative to the solvent, (xcex41, v1) and the molar fractions of solvent and of solute, are modified. In doing so, the free enthalpy curve is modified (see FIG. 4). For low proportions of flocculant ("PHgr"p), the free enthalpy is concave at any point and no phase separation is favourable from the viewpoint of energy. On the other hand, with high proportions of flocculant, the free enthalpy has a convex domain and a phase separation occurs. A tangent to the curve can in fact be drawn, which gives two mixtures at phase equilibrium. The model thus allows, knowing the quality of the solvent, to define whether the system is stable or if there is a phase separation.
In this model, the flocculation threshold is defined as the case in which the free enthalpy curve goes from a concave to a convex situation. In other words, we change from a single-phase stable system to a two-phase system. This leads to the appearance of a zero-tangent flex point on the free enthalpy curve. Mathematically, by using the chemical potentials of the two species, we can write:                                           ln            ⁢                          xe2x80x83                        ⁢                          (                              1                -                                  φ                  2                                            )                                +                                    (                              1                -                                  1                  m                                            )                        ⁢                          φ              2                                +                                    χ              ⁡                              (                                  φ                  2                                )                                      2                          =                              ln            ⁡                          (                              φ                2                            )                                +                                    (                              1                -                m                            )                        ⁢                          (                              1                -                                  φ                  2                                            )                                +                                    mχ              ⁡                              (                                  1                  -                                      φ                    2                                                  )                                      2                                              (        6        )            
where m is the ratio of the molar volumes of the solute and of the solvent.
However, the predictions that could be made by means of Wang et al""s modelling method to connect the solubility parameter xcex4 of the asphaltenes to the refraction index function do not really match the experimental results that can be obtained.
The method according to the invention allows fast prediction of the flocculation threshold of asphaltenes contained in hydrocarbon mixtures. It comprises the following stages:
determining the refraction index (nA) of several asphaltenes used as reference asphaltenes;
determining expermnentally, for predetermined thermodynamic conditions, the variation of solubility index (xcex4) in connection with the refraction index of hydrocarbon constituents including light hydrocarbons and reference asphaltenes;
deducing therefrom a correlation relation modelling this variation of solubility index (xcex4).
These preliminary operations being performed,
refraction index (nA) of the asphaltenes of the hydrocarbon mixture is determined under the same thermodynamic conditions and by reference to said correlation relation, solubility index (xcex4) of the asphaltenes of said mixture is deduced therefrom; and
from the solubility index of the asphaltenes of said mixture and from a thermodynamic equilibrium model, the flocculation threshold thereof is directly predicted.
The variation of refraction index (nA) can be determined for example by extrapolation from several measured refraction index values obtained for several solutions with relatively low concentrations of these asphaltenes in solvents.
The device according to the invention allows to predict the flocculation threshold of asphaltenes contained in a given hydrocarbon mixture. It comprises a refractometer and a system suited to experimentally determine, under predetermined thermodynamic conditions, the refraction index (nA) of asphaltenes, to determine the variations of solubility index (xcex4) in connection with variations of the refraction index of known hydrocarbon constituents including light hydrocarbons and several known reference asphaltenes, to deduce therefrom a correlation relation modelling these variations of solubility index (xcex4) and to apply this correlation relation to a thermodynamic equilibrium model so as to directly predict the flocculation threshold of the asphaltenes contained in said hydrocarbon mixture.
The system comprises at least a programmed computer and, in some cases, an equipment for bringing asphaltenes into solution in a solvent at variable concentrations.